The big ideaLet someone try your project. Watch, note what happens, fix it, try again.
How it works
Let someone else try your project. After you have built it for a long time, your own eyes stop noticing its gaps.
Keep quiet and watch. Telling hides the problems, and watching shows them.
Write down what they do, and what happened, not why. Then fix the biggest problem first.
Let someone try it once more, because every fix needs a second try-out. A player is never at fault: the project had a gap.
Zoe's try-out and Mina's fixes.
Example 1: Just watch
Zoe, who is seven, tries Mina's game, and Mina wants to say which key to press.
Mr. Reyes whispers, Just watch.
Zoe presses the space bar, and the ship flies off the edge.
Example 2: Write it down
Mina writes what she sees: the ship left the screen, the start button was tiny and a rock froze in the sky.
She writes what happened, not why.
Facts come first, and then she can decide what to fix.
Example 3: Fix, then try again
Mina fixes the biggest problems first: walls at the edge, a big start button and a hint for the arrow keys.
Zoe tries again, and the ship stays in and the button glows.
She wins a round.
Example 4: Share it early
Mina thought the game was perfect, because she knew every key and every trick.
Five minutes of watching beat two weeks alone.
A project is never perfect without other eyes, so share it early.
Words to know
try-out
Letting someone use your project while you watch.
bug
A mix-up to fix in a project.
gap
Something the project does not handle, which you could not see yourself.
Watch out
Do not explain every move first. Let them try without help.
Do not say it is the player's fault. The project had a gap.
Do not ignore what they found. Using it is how the project gets better.
Do not hide it until it is perfect.
Try it
What teaches you more: telling a player what to do, or watching them?
When you write down what a player does, do you write what happened or why?
Which problem do you fix first?
After you fix something, what should you do?
A player gets stuck. Is it the player's fault?
Answers: 1. Watching them · 2. What happened · 3. The biggest one · 4. Let someone try it once more · 5. No
Try at homeShow a grown-up or a sibling a drawing, a model or a game you made. Do not explain it. Just watch, and write down three things they did that surprised you. Fix one, and let them try again.
For grown-upsDo the Mission: show something you made, say nothing, and ask your child to watch and write three things you did that surprised them. Then swap, so they find out how it feels to be watched.
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